Building-moving equipment



S. M. GOODER BUILDING Mqvmd EQUIPMENT Filegl Feb. 5, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 1' Sept. 22, 1925. 1,554,209

Jul/6705a"- Sept. 22, 1925. 1,554,209

$1M. GOODER suxwme movme EQUIPMENT Filed Feb. 5, 1925 s Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig 2.

Sept. 22, 1925. 1,554,209

s. M. GOODER BUILDING MOVING EQUIPMENT FildFeb. 5, 1925 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 fi W IIII/I/I/l/I/I/l/II/II/I/l YIIIIIIIII/IIII/II/IIIIIII/11111111111111 Patented Sept. 22, 1925.

PATENT OFFICE.

SETH M. eoonna, oronroAeo, ILLINOIS.

BUIIiDING-MOVING EQUIPMENT.

Application filed February 5, 1925. Serial No. 6,944.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI, SETH M. Goonnn, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and'State of Illinois, have invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Building-Moving Equipments,- and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for moving heavy buildings, and

' has been designed more especially for moving buildings, such as steel skeletons, brick, stone or concreteconstructed buildings.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a novel form of apparatus or equipment whereby the weightof the building is supported on rails, suitably'leveled and sus tained, through the medium of caster elements, whereby the moving building is sustained through metal rollers and said rails, thereby avoiding the use of numerous individual rollers to support .the weight of the building throughthe known form of saddle plates and. the consequent laborious handling and rehandling of said individual rollers.

Another object of the invention is to produce a-building moving apparatus or equipment so constructed and arranged as to facilitate the movement. of a building from one street or roadway to an intersectingstreet or to a lot adjacent to a street without a multitude of individual rollers, as heretofore-has been necessary, at turning points of moving buildings and without driving into alignment a large number of rollers to progressive centers about whichbuilding is to be turned, the latter in accordance with well-known practice.

Another object of the invention is to produce a novel form of caster particularly adapted for use in my improved apparatus or equipment, embracing a rugged frame carrying suitable rollers and suitable bearings therefor and connections to the shoe timbers in. such manner that the-casterscan swivel relatively to the shoe timbers.

A further object=0f the invention is to produce animproved and novel formof shoe timber for use. in buildin emoving .equip- 111911133,

. IDOVBS.

A further object of the invention is to produce a novel form oftrack rail on which I I bodiment of the invention, which is illustrated and described to disclose the principle involved in the present invention; but it will be understood that the details of construction may be considerably varied with in the spirit and scope of the appended claims, and that it is the intent to claim all of inherent novelty shown in the drawings and described in the specification.

In said drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a building sustained on a moving equipment embodying my. invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of one of the modified shoe timbers and one" of the casters, partly broken away.

Figure 3 is a vertical section on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a vertical section on the line 4-4 of Figure 3. a

Figure 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the supporting rails.

Figures 6 and 7 are perspective details of parts of a caster member. s

Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating the mannerof laying the supporting track to direct abuilding from a street or roadway into another street or roadway at a right angle thereto, or into a lot at the side of a roadway.

.As shown in the drawings, 10', 10 designates, as a whole, shoe timbers by which the building is directly supported, as through the medium of the usual needles 11. Said shoe timbers have heretofore been made of heavy timbers and carry saddle plates that engage the free rolling, individual rollers on which the building is supported and As herein shown, the construction is changed, in that the modified timbers are fabricated of metal shapes and permanently carry the casters or trucks by which the building is supported through rails, and whereby the can be moved from to r.ear.. They may, in pri'ictice, be of less len th than the depth of the buildine' and a: .1 l a. be suitabiy connected or scarl'ed at their ends to -produce continuous shoe timbers. Said modifiedshoe timbers areshown as made of a pair. of commercial channel shapes, arranged with their webs vertical \and parallel, and with their flanges dis- ,posed horizontally away from each other,

thereby greatly strengthening the structure. Mounted on eachshoe timber .rality ofqweight-transmitting and loadtransporting caster elements, desi; i

, ared as a whole by 12, inl igure 1, and herein I described. Said casters are spaced. at s table distances along, the length of the shoe timbers, and, by reason of the hollow construotion of the modi'tied shoe timbers, the c'astcrs can be embedded up in the space between the, vertical members thereof, The frames of the casters can .also consti- -tute meansrfor attaching the members of the shoe timbers rigidly together.

he castersinclude roller elements 14 which rest and roll on tracks, designated as a whole by 15.

These tracks 'are disposed parallel to and beneath the shoe timbers and are sustained and leveled'on built-up longitudinally and transverse undertimbering l-9 acco:. a common practice. Preferably, and in practice, thesaid tracks are of composite structure, being composed of channel shapes H161 and enclosed wood beams lY.

flanges of the channel shapes are vertical" and their webs 18 are disposed horizontally The to constitute upwardly facing tracks on which the rollers 1% of the casters are upported. Preferably and as herein shown, .each track has a wide support ng face and is divided by a central, longitudinally er;- tend ng rib or strap 20, to sustain twin roller casters, wherein the rollers are disosed end to end as will hereinafter more fully appear. The presence of this strap or rib upon the face of the track constitutes acontrol to prevent the caster rollers from sl1pp1ngs1dew1se off the track. Said control ribs are preferably made se nirate from and detachably fixed to the channels, so that they can be used or not, as desired.

The rollers of each caster are mounted in endwise, coaxial re ation to rotate on a massivejaxle or shaft 2-5,.the trunnion ends 26 of which enter downwardly opening sockets are apluling to 27 in diametrically thickened portions of a- .horizontal body ring 28, whose outer diameter substantially fills the space between the webs of the shOe timber channels. The rollers 14 are of composite structure, as best shown in Figure Each comprises a )erioheral broad-faced steel or other hard,

metal ring 30 to produce a tread to rest on the appropriate half or the track 15, and an inner reinforcing and bearing collarv 31 which is fast in said ring. designates a hard metal bearing collar on the axle Between said collars 31 and 32 are disposed spherical or other bearings 33 to transmit the load through an anti-friction medium. Yihen the track-dividing, or control rib is employed and twin rollers are employed in the caster, the shaft can be centrally supported and reinforced by a bar or diaphragm 35 which extends diametrically across the ring 28 and is set at its smaller ends 35 into downwardly openingreccs es of the. caster structure ring 28. Said reiniiorcing bars when used are of considerable depth at their longitudinal centers, and are iorated to lit closely on an intermediate part of the axle This arrangement .g'rcatly strengtl'iens the caster structure and also reinforces the axle against deflection. .l'l'desired, the tread rings of the rollers are closed at their outer ends by'plates 14: to prevent entrance, through the outer ends of said .rings, of dust and dirt. to the roller bearings.

The ring 28 constitutes the lower element of a turntable whose turning axis lies between, the webs 22 of the shoe timber. 36 designates. an upper ring member 01 said turntable, and 37 designates the horizontal web of a channel plate or ring 38 which extends between the webs of the modified shoe timber channels and can be rigidly fastened thereto by the screws or bolts 39 and 4:0 and the angles l1 which lie in the angles be tween the plate 37 andthe webs 22 of the shoe timber beams The angles ll and said channels 38 bear against the webs of the shoe timber beams and thus, not only strengthen the caster structure, but also reinforce the connection between said structure and said beams and the structure of the shoe timbers.

An annular series of anti-friction boar- .ingsdffl are interposed between the upper ti'callydisposed shell 46. isclosely fitting within the hollow caster elements 28, and 3": .to hold the ant friction cage in place.

From what hasbeen said, it will be evident that the caster or turntable structure,

connected as it is to the elements of the said channel shapes, and it is: also evident that the rollers 14 are capable of rotating about the axis of rotation of the turntable between the shoe timber beams so as to adapt the casters to trave'l'on curved tracks as well asstraighttracks', as clearly indicated in Figure 8. Figure 8 indicates the simplicity of laying a curvedconnecting track'between straightor tangent tracks,

with the curved portion of the track devel- In the oped about a single center point. straight parts of the track approaching to and receding from the curved portion of the track, the control ribs 20 are removed, as well also on the curved portions of said track. Each shoe timber is shown in Figure 8 as equipped with seven casters and. the curved track rails can be so laid that three rails will support" the caster roller' elements of three pairs of roller elements while the fourth rail can support the roller elements of the center casterof a shoe timber. Thus by properly cutting or aligning the roller elements to single center, the work of turning a corner can'be done as a simple job with the aid of a few operatives. The rails will be supported by the necessary matting or under timbering, which will only need to be limited to the width of the active portions of the track, whereas in prior practice it has been necessary, by the use of a multitude of individual rollers, to mat the surface from side to sideof the street or road way at the turning point. It is also evident that the friction developed between the axle and rollers under load stress and that developed between the elements of the turntable is minimized by the, annular series of anti friction bearings 35 and 43. Therefore, the casters are free to turn on their axle 25 and also about a vertical axis to permit swiveling movement of the caster rollers in their frames. r

Reference herein made to the term shoe timber and shoe timbers is not intended to exclude the particular material of which such element or elements are made. Inasmuch as the term shoe timber has acquired a definite status in theold art, this term has been here used notwithstanding the fact that in the preferred form of the invention, though-not exclusively, such element or ele ments are made of metal.

I claim as my invention:

1 A building moving equipment includinga composite supporting track comprising a channel plate and a wood filler between and extending below the flanges of the plate, the web of said channel constituting the track face and being provided with a central caster control rib/ 2. In a building moving equipment, the combination with a shoe timberand cylindric metal roller casters fixed to said timber, of a metallic track on which the rollers of said casters rest and roll. Y 1 3. In a building moving equipment, a shoe timber and a caster fixed thereto embracing a cylindric supporting roller, combined with a flat metal supporting track for said roller.

4. In a building moving equipment, a hollow shoe timber and a plurality of roller casters swiveled to said timber and spaced" along the length thereof and partially enclosed therein.

In a building moving equipment, a downwardly opening shoe timber and a plu rality of caster frames enclosed in said timher and spaced along the length thereof, and rollers swiveled in said frames.

6. A building moving equipment including ashoe timber comprising fabricated mletal beams, and roller casters between and fixed to said beams and constituting elements to fasten said beams toeach other.

7. A building moving equipment inoluding a shoe timber comprising spaced beams 1 having vertical members, and roller castershaving frames disposed between and rigidly attached to said vertical members of the beams.

8. A building moving equipment including a shoe timber comprising spaced beams, and a roller caster comprising a frame rigidly fixed to vertical elements of said beams, and including a turntable, and rollers mounted in said turntable.

9, A building moving equipment including a shoe timber comprising spaced, metallic channel beams with their flanges directed outwardly, and a roller caster comprising a frame, means tofixedly attach the frame to the webs of the beams and to connect said said shaft, and antifriction bearings between i said roller and shaft.

11. A building moving equipment comprising a horizontal shoe timber and a caster frame fixed thereto, said frame including a turntable rotatable on a vertical axis, a shaft in said frame and a cylindric caster roller mounted to turn on said shaft.

12. A building moving equipment comprising a shoe timber including spaced, metallic beams, a plural roller caster including a frame fixed to said beams and rigidly connecting them together as a unitary structure,

a massive shaft supported in said frame, and

a plurality ofrollers arranged end to end, and rotative, on said shaft.

13. A building moving equipment comprising a shoe timber composed of spaced metallic beams, a plural roller caster including a frame fixed to said beams and connecting them together to constitute a unitary 'structure, said caster frame including a including a rigid frame connected to said beams and constituting a connecting bridge between said beams, said frame including means whereby'theaxis of rotation of said caster can turn on a vertical axis parallel to said beams.

16. The combination with a shoe timber comprising spaced parts, of a dual roller caster between said parts comprising .an upper ring member between and fast to said parts and a lower turntable member, a axle mounted in said turntable member, spaced rollers rotatable on said axle, and a brace member supported on said turntable member 2111C extending between said rollers and having an open portion to receive and afford bearing for and to support said axle between said rollers.

17. In a building-moving equipment, a two part shoe timber, and a caster between said parts comprising an upper ring rigidly fixed to said shoe timber parts, an axle, a caster roller rotatively mounted thereon, antifriction bearings between said axle and said roller, a turntable part to support said axle and antifriction bearings between said ring and said turntable.

In witness whereof I claim the foregoing as my invention, I hereunto append my sig nature this 26th da of January, 1925.

SETH M. GOODER 

